Mr. Blake, Harry soon found, was a widower, and his house was presided over by his eldest daughter, Kathleen, to whom Harry was introduced on entering the house.  As it was now some hours since they had eaten the food which Mr. Blake had brought, they were quite ready for another meal, at which they were soon joined by six or eight other gentlemen, who had been sleeping in the house.  Breakfast over, Harry retired to his room, put on a fresh suit from his wallet, and rejoined his companions, when a sort of council of war was held.  Harry learned that there was no difficulty as to men, as any number of these could be recruited among the peasantry.  There was, however, an entire absence of any arms save pikes.  Harry knew how good a weapon are these when used by steady and well-disciplined men.  The matchlocks of those days were cumbrous arms, and it was at the point of the pike that battles were then always decided.

Mr. Blake begged Harry to make his house his headquarters during his stay in the West, and the invitation was gladly accepted.  The letters of which he was the bearer were dispatched to their destinations, and a few days after his arrival the recipients called upon him, and he found himself overwhelmed with invitations and offers of hospitality.  The time therefore passed very pleasantly.

A few men were found in Galway who had served in the wars.  These were made sergeants of the newly raised regiment, which was five hundred strong.  This was not embodied, but five central places were chosen at a distance from each other, and at these the peasants assembled for drill.  Several of the sons of the squires received commissions as officers, and the work of drilling went on briskly, Harry superintending that at each center by turns.  In the evenings there were generally dinner parties at the houses of one or other of the gentry, and Harry greatly enjoyed the life.  So some months passed.

In July the news came that the Earl of Ormonde’s force outside Dublin had been routed by the garrison, under General Jones, the governor, and shortly afterward Harry received orders to march with the regiment to join the earl, who, as the king’s representative, forwarded him at the same time a commission as its colonel, and the order to command it.

It was on the 13th of August that Harry with his force joined the army of Ormonde, and the next day the news came that Cromwell had landed at Dublin, and had issued a bloodthirsty proclamation against the Irish.  Harry was at once ordered to march with his regiment to Tredah, now called Drogheda, a seaport about forty miles north of Dublin.  At this town Harry found in garrison twenty-five hundred English troops, under the command of Sir Arthur Ashton, an old Royalist officer, he had lost a leg in the king’s service.